Baghdad, October 2001. Chemical ali, Saddam Hussein's cousin, has a weapon of mass destruction - human, new variety Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (Mad Cow) against which there is no known cure. Ali plans to weaponize the virus in bulk, disguised as surgical flue, at a Hungarian facility, but first needs a vaccine to protect the True Believers against this deadly virus. He learns that the Canadian scientist, Jason Moscovitch, is feverishly working on such a vaccine. Ali recruits an Al Qaeda Snatch Team, comprised of Iraqi, Bosnian and Jordanian elements, who kidnap the man. When the scientist refuses to work for the extremists the team kidnaps his mother as well. Robert Londale, a contract officer with the CIA's Counter-Terrorism Division, is asked to find and free Moscovitch. But, to succeed, he must first penetrate the unbelievably complex web of Islamic Factionalists involved in the case.